Edwin f



(No Model.)

E; F. .MOWER SEWING MJgGHINB.

No. 562,335.- Patentedirune 16, 1896.

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witnesses 0%@ f6 WMM@ ANDREW B GRAHAMJ'HUU IIIHO WASMNGTDNVDC UNITE-D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDYVIN F. MOVER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK IV. VI-IITOl-IER, OF SAME PLACE.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,335, dated J' une 16, 1896. Application filed January 18,1896.` Serial N0. 575,993. (N0 model-l .To all whom it may concer-11,:

Beit known that I, EDWIN F. MOWER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My present invention relates to machines on the order of those which are represented in Letters Patent of the United States No. 507,377, granted to me on October 24, 1893, and in my application for Letters Patent iiled May 3l, 1895, Serial No. 551,104, and has for its obj ect to increase the speed and certainty with which work of the first quality may be produced by such machines.

The invention consists chiefly in the application, to such a machine as is shown in either the Letters Patent or the application above referred to, of a thread-guide of novel character by means of which the thread may be held securely relatively to the recessed end of the punch or stitch-former in such manner as to secure with certainty the proper insertion of the thread in the stock in forming a stitch, thereby preventing the machine from skipping a stitch or stitches, as sometimes results in such machines as now constructed when the direction of the line of stitches is suddenly changedas in going around a corner or sharp bend. A

The novel features of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the characteristic features thereof will be particularly pointed out and distinctly defined in the claims at the close of this specication.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a front elevation of the head of a machine, showing the stitch-forming mechanism proper, a small portion being in section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same parts of the machine as are shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an inverted or bottom view of the presser-foot and adjacent parts. Figs. 4, 5, andv G show modified forms of thread-guides in side, front, and inverted or bottom views. Fig. 7 is a side view of the punch or stitch-former with the thread-guidein position and shows the groove in the front of the punch or st-itch-former in which the thread lies when the machine is in use.

A portion of the frame of the machine is shown at A. This portion of the frame or head of the machine serves to support the awl-bar 1, the presser-bar 2 with the presserfoot 2l, and the punch-bar 3, the said parts 6o being constructed, arranged, and operated as heretofore. I do not deem it necessary in the present instance to give a detailed description of the construction, arrangement, or opveration of these parts, and I shall therefore,

in the following description, confine myself chiey to the novel features which are comprised in my present invention.

In .the machines aforesaid, as heretofore constructed, the thread passes downwardly 7o from the wax-pot, through a guide-eye on a spring-guide, which usually is fastened to the head of the machine, and thence downwardly through a thread-carrier, which latter, as the awl moves downwardly into the stock, operates to move out of the line of the awl the portion of thread which is about to be formed into a stitch, so thatthe awl will not be liable to cut the thread, and after the awl has passed upwardly the said thread-carrier moves the 8o thread back into position under the notched end of the punch or stitch-former, so that as the latter descends it will carry the thread downwardly into the stock, forming aloop of thread therein and thus makinga stitch. As will be obvious, great precision of movement is required in the case ofthis thread-carrier, in order that the thread maybe carried always to exactly the proper place under the punch or stitch-former, so as to insure the thread 9o being carried downwardly into the stock.

When it becomes necessary to form a line of stitches around a sharp curve, it sometimes happens that the thread is not returned to the proper position under the punch or stitchformer and one or more stitches are skipped, rcnderin g the work defective and to a considerable degree valueless. To avoid this difficulty, I have provided a thread-guide which Ilocate adjacent tothe punch or stitch-former, 1 oo it remaining in the same vertical plane with the latter and restraining the thread at the lower end of said punch or stitch-former. Preferably, this thread-guide partakes to a limited extent of the movement of the punch or stitch-former. Preferably, also, the said thread-guide consists of a shank portion 5 and a foot portionV G, having a vertical hole or eye 6l therethrough through which the stitch-former or punch operates. The shank 5 of this guide is secured by a set-screw 5l or other equivalent means in a holder 7, which latter in turn is placed in a socket in the lower end of the punch-bar 8. A spring l0 is placed in the said socket and operates to press the holder and its thread-guide downwardly, the limits of the movement of the holder 7 relatively to the punch-bar 3 being determined by apiu or screw 7l on said holder playing in a slot 37 in punch-bar 3. lVhen both the punch and the thread-guide are above the surface of the stock, they will move vertically together, the spring 10 operating to hold the eye of the thread-guide at the lower end of the said punch, as shown in Fig. 1. lVhen the punch-bar moves downwardly, the thread-guide is carried downwardly therewith until the lower end thereof comes into contact with the surface of the stock, after which, during the continued downward movement of the punch-bar and punch, the threadguide will remain stationary, it resting on the surface of the stock, while the spring lO will be compressed, the thread-guide holder moving upward relatively in the socket at the lower end of the punch-bar. The hole 6l in the foot portion (5 of the thread-guide is large enough to permit the vertical play of the punch therein, and also to permit the thread to be passed downwardly therethrough, the front of the punch against which the thread lies being preferably hollowed or grooved slightly lengthwise of the shank of the punch to assist in holding the thread in position.

The grooving of the punch, while desirable, is not essential. The thread passes in a nearly horizontal direction over a guidearm 12, Fig. 2, which is secured to the lower edge of the head or frame at a point very close to the vertical line of the punch. Thenee it passes downwardly along the front of the punch on the side thereof nearer the awl and through the eye or hole 6l in the foot portion C of the thread-guide, through which the punch also passes. The thread thus is held in the notched or recessed end of the punch, and it is impossible for the punch to miss taking the thread as the punch passes downwardly into the stock.

Fig. 4 shows a simple form of the threadguide. The thread-guide in some cases is provided with the downwardly-projecting portion 11, Figs. 1, G, and 7, which latter comes in contact with the stock when the punchbar descends. This portion l1 is placed directly over the line of stitches in such a position as to rest on the stock directly between two stitches. The end of the said projection l1 is pointed or chisel-shaped as clearly shown in Figs. l and G, and in the descent of the punchbar the chisel-shaped end will be forced downwardly between the stitches, and thus will serve as a pricking-up device. lt will be clear also that if the thread-guide is formed with a chisel-pointed end it may be wide enough to project across the line of stitches, as in the drawings, or at one side thereof, and then will operate also as a marker. By the employment of a downward projection 1l, the foot portion 6 of the thread-guide is not permitted to come into contact with the surface of the stock, but is held up therefrom, so that a clear space under said foot portion is left for the operation of the slackener device, which is shown at 20. The said slackener device operates to produce a slack in the thread from which a stitch is being formed, so that when in forming a stitch the loop of thread is forced downwardly by the punch into the stock, the punch will not operate to draw the thread out of the preceding loop, the slack which is formed by the slacliener device being sufficient to supply thread to the loop which is being formed by the punch. lVhen, therefore, it is desirable to use a slackener device, or any similar device which operates close to the surface of the leather and directly behind the punch, the foot portion of the thread-guide may be held up off the surface of the leather to accommodate such device by means of the downwardly-projeeting portion ll, and such downwardly-projecting portion may, as previously described, be used in addition as a prieking-up device, or as a marking device, or both. It will be clear that when said portion l1 is used as a pricking-up device, and it therefore is necessary to force it into the space between two preceding stitches, the distance to which it is desired to force it into the stock between the stitches will be according to the extent to which the threadguide holder is permitted to recede in its socket at the lower end of the punch-bar, since, as soon as the limit is reached, the continued downward movement of the punch-bar will serve positively to force the end of the projection l1 into the space between the stitches. Vhen no provision requires to be made for the operation of a slackener device or other similar device, the form of the threadguide which I employ is that shown in Fig. 4t, in which there is no downward projection below the foot portion 6 of the guide. In the use of this thread-guide (shown in Fig. 4) the foot portion of the thread-guide moves downwardly until it makes contact with the surface of the stock; but otherwise the operation is the same as that previously described for the form of thread-guide shown in Fig. l.

In Fig. 5 I have shown another modification of a thread-guide which is provided with a downward projection 30, through which is formed the hole or eye 6l for the passage of the punch. This projection 30 serves as a support for the thread-guide on the surface of the stock, and by locating the projection IOO IOS

IIO

adjacent to the punch the greater part ofthe space rearwardly of the punch is free, which sometimes is desirable in order to permit of the free operation of other devices, such as the slackener device already referred to, which are employed in connection with stitch-forming mechanism of the character employed in these machines.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a modification in which a thread-guide provided with a projection 1l, formed to serve for pricking up, orpricking up and marking, as in the case of that shown in Figs. l and 7, is provided also with a short projection 3l on the order of that designated 30 in Fig. 5. The said projection 31, it having the hole or eye 6l therethrough for the passage of the punch, limits the descent of the thread-guide, and thus constituies a stop to hold foot 6 elevated sufficiently above the work to allow of the workin g of the slackener device, or the like device, beneath Jche same in the recess at 32, Fig. G.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination with a stitch-forming punch for forming a line of stitches by forcing successive loops of thread into the stock, and the punch-bar, of a thread-guide restraining the thread at the lower end of the punch, and means to cause said thread-guide to move in unison with said punch through part of the vertical movement of the latter, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a stitch-forming punch forforming a line of stitches by forcing successive loops of thread into the stock, 3 5 and the punch-bar, of a thread-guide restrain- `ing the thread at the lower end of the punch, said thread-guide having a stop to engage with the work and hold it raised therefrom, and means to connect said thread-guide with said 4o punch-bar with capacity for movement to a limited extent relatively thereto, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a stitch-forming punch for forming a line of stitches by for- 45 cing successive loops of thread into the stock, and the punch-bar, of a thread-guide restraining the thread at the lower end of the punch, said thread-guide having a wedge-shaped projection to engage with the work, and means 5o to connect said thread-guide with said punchbar with capacity for movement to a limited extent relatively thereto, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature 55 in presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN F. MOWER.

Witnesses:

CHAs. F. RANDALL, WM. A. MAoLEoD. 

